{"id":1267,"date":"2008-07-07T09:31:09","date_gmt":"2008-07-07T14:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spikesnstars.com\/?p=1267"},"modified":"2008-07-07T09:31:09","modified_gmt":"2008-07-07T14:31:09","slug":"astros-pirates-welcome-to-uugghhly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.orangewhoopass.com\/2008\/07\/07\/astros-pirates-welcome-to-uugghhly\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros @ Pirates   Welcome to Uugghhly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"line-through;\"><span style=\"line-through;\">Aarrgghh.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 Make that uugghh.<\/p>\n<p>As bad as the baseball was for the month of June, the month of July has not shown any promise of being any better.\u00a0 In July, the Astros are batting .226 as a team, with a whopping on base percentage of .290, ranking them next to last\u00a0in the National League\u00a0in both categories.\u00a0 Their paltry .312 slugging percentage in July ranks them last in all of the major leagues.\u00a0 During the same time span, the pitching\u00a0has been mediocre at best&#8211;a 4.21 ERA,\u00a0giving up 55 hits and 32 runs in 62 innings.\u00a0 \u00a0The result:\u00a0 a 1-5 record, tied for last place in the NL Central with the Pirates.\u00a0 Uugghhly.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>PNC Park<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"Calibri;\">Monday, July 7<span style=\"1;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"1;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>6:05 p.m. FSN<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"Calibri;\">Tuesday, July 8<span style=\"1;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"1;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>6:05 p.m. FSN<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"Calibri;\">Wednesday July 9\u00a0<span style=\"1;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>6:05 p.m. FSN<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0in 0in 10pt;\"><strong>Probable Pitchers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Monday:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/houston.astros.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=424465\"><strong>Runelvys Hernandez, RHP (0-2, <span>5.40<\/span>)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0vs <a href=\"http:\/\/houston.astros.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=430597\"><strong>Phil Dumatrait, LHP (3-4, <span>4.66<\/span>)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tuesday: <a href=\"http:\/\/houston.astros.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=407840\"><strong>Brandon Backe, RHP (5-9, <span>5.22<\/span>)<\/strong><\/a> vs <a href=\"http:\/\/houston.astros.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=430636\"><strong>Ian Snell, RHP (3-7, <span>5.99<\/span>)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Wednesday: <a href=\"http:\/\/houston.astros.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=119215\"><strong>Brian Moehler, RHP (4-4, <span>4.13<\/span>)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0vs <a href=\"http:\/\/houston.astros.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=429724\"><strong>John Van Benschoten, RHP (1-2, <span>10.64<\/span>)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dumatrait and Snell will be making their first starts fresh off the DL versus the Astros.\u00a0 Van Benschoten has just been moved from the relief role to the starting rotation replacing Tom Gorzelanny who was recently optioned to AAA.\u00a0\u00a0Just look at those ERAs.\u00a0 If the anemic Astros bats don&#8217;t\u00a0take advantage of this fresh meat to beef up their hemoglobin levels, then nothing short of\u00a0a\u00a0complete transfusion\u00a0will do.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, Hernandez, Backe and Moehler are coming off of rather disappointing starts themselves and the wounded Pirates (just swept by the Brewers) will be looking to plunder this pitching staff for any booty they can.<\/p>\n<p>Watch out folks, this could get butt uugghhly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Injuries<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh&#8211;Matt Capps, bursitis in his right shoulder and internal rotation deficit; Franquelis Osoria, bursitis in right ankle.<\/p>\n<p>Houston&#8211;Berkman has &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/houston.astros.mlb.com\/news\/article.jsp?ymd=20080705&amp;content_id=3069957&amp;vkey=news_hou&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;c_id=hou\">goopy<\/a>&#8221; (possible pinkeye) and may not play. <a href=\"http:\/\/houston.astros.mlb.com\/news\/article.jsp?ymd=20080705&amp;content_id=3070075&amp;vkey=news_hou&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;c_id=hou\">Oswalt is in Houston for further evaluation<\/a> of the hip pain he is experiencing and is\u00a0not expected to pitch in this series.\u00a0 Matsui (hamstring) will be eligible to return on the 8th.\u00a0 Quintero\u00a0(concussion) and Paulino (pinched nerve) round out the growing injury list\u00a0for the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Promotions and Giveaways<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Monday&#8211;McDonald&#8217;s Scratch and Win Monday&#8211;Every fan is guaranteed to win a prize (if you can call the colored, flavored, sauced up cardboard they call food a prize).\u00a0 Nine &#8220;lucky&#8221; fans will win Pirates dugout jackets.<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com\/schedule\/promotions_popup.jsp?c_id=pit&amp;puid=2008_07_08_houmlb_pitmlb_1\">Pirates T-shirt Tuesday<\/a>\u00a0and Pup night presented by Pup-Peroni.<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday&#8211;Lady Buc&#8217;s Club Party&#8211;It&#8217;s an All American Summer Bash complete with a makeup bag giveaway.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<strong>Other Stuff<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0There is no other stuff.\u00a0 I am on vacation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aarrgghh.\u00a0 Make that uugghh. As bad as the baseball was for the month of June, the month of July has not shown any promise of being any better.\u00a0 In July, the Astros are batting .226 as a team, with a whopping on base percentage of .290, ranking them next to last\u00a0in the National League\u00a0in both [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orangewhoopass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orangewhoopass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orangewhoopass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.orangewhoopass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.orangewhoopass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.orangewhoopass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orangewhoopass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.orangewhoopass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.orangewhoopass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}